MIKEY’S HORSES
Newsbreak in August 2003 broke the news on a plan of presidential son Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo to import 32 thoroughbred horses from Melbourne, Australia. The then Pampanga vice governor, now a congressman, denied the allegation. He admitted, though, that he was in the horse-trade business. The young Arroyo owns Franchino Farms along with cousin Franchino Pamintuan and friend Ralph Mondragon.

	SCANDAL PRONE. Ignacio Arroyo (right) and his brother Mike (center), and nephew Mikey (right) were all accused of receiving payoffs from gambling lords.

JOSE PIDAL
On Aug. 18, 2003, opposition senator Panfilo Lacson accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of money laundering for supposedly siphoning off at least P321 million in campaign funds and contributions and putting these in a secret bank account under the fictitious name Jose Pidal and in three other accounts using the names of his aides. Among the “donors,” Lacson said, was then Rep. Mark Jimenez who contributed a total of P8 million. Lacson also accused Mr. Arroyo of having an affair with his accountant, Victoria Toh. Following Lacson’s allegations, Mr. Arroyo’s younger brother, now congressman Ignacio or Iggy, came forward to say he is Jose Pidal.

AGRI FUND
The First Gentleman was linked in May 2004 to the alleged diversion of P728 million from the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program to President Arroyo’s campaign war chest in the form of development assistance funds to local government units. Then Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn I. Bolante, Mr. Arroyo’s classmate at the Ateneo de Manila University and a colleague at the Rotary Club District 3830, cleared the First Gentleman of involvement. Bolante was tasked to oversee the implementation of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program at the time.

PHILHEALTH CARDS
Six weeks before the May 2004 elections, two lawyers from PRO-CON(stitution) filed a disqualification case against President Arroyo before the Comelec, saying she was behind the enhanced Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s Greater Medicare Access or GMA program, which they claimed was meant to prop up her candidacy. Earlier, another PRO-CON lawyer filed a criminal suit, also before the Comelec, against then PCSO chief Maria Livia “Honeygirl” de Leon and PhilHealth president (now Health Secretary) Francisco T. Duque III for vote buying, intervention of a public officer, using public funds for election purposes and using banned election propaganda. Public funds were allegedly spent to enroll families in PhilHealth for one year to induce the enrollees to vote for President Arroyo. The premium cost of P1,200 for each family member was chargeable to PhilHealth and the PCSO.?The PhilHealth identification cards bore the President’s picture and the name. Their distribution coincided with the start of the election campaign.

LAS VEGAS SUITE
The First Gentleman was the subject of another controversy over his alleged use of a $20,000-a-night suite at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada during the boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Mexico’s Erick Morales last March 19. The story first appeared as a blind item in the March 23 column of Inquirer sports columnist Recah Trinidad, who wrote that a “heavyweight backer” of Pacquiao had stayed in a $20,000-suite at the MGM Grand. Mr. Arroyo would later say he did not see anything corrupt about accepting the generous offer of a free luxury suite from the hotel, arguing that his stature as the husband of a head of state entitled him to such perks.

JUETENG (AGAIN)
In Senate hearings on the illegal numbers game that began in May 2005, jueteng operators and bagmen said the President’s husband Mike, her son Mikey, and her brother-in-law Ignacio or Iggy were among those who received monthly payoffs from gambling lords. The payoffs supposedly ranged from P500,000 to P1 million. One of the witnesses, businesswoman Sandra Cam, testified that in December 2004, she personally delivered the cash to Mikey (in a gift-wrapped package) and Iggy (in an envelope) at the House of Representatives. The deliveries were supposedly made on the instructions of retired Chief Supt. Restituto Mosqueda, former police director for Bicol and alleged protector of jueteng operations in Luzon. On June 8, the President ordered the Department of Justice to investigate her son and brother-in-law, saying, “Nobody in my family or kin are above the law and no investigator or prosecutor could fear to uphold the law against them. I will stand for justice no matter who gets hurt.” The Office of the Ombudsman has since taken over the DOJ investigation. Both Mikey and Iggy, meanwhile, have sued Cam for libel.